Recycling suggestions

[Worty]

Anyone got any ideas how I can use old but unused brake fluid (containers opened).  Also, any ideas for old spark plugs (working but used).  There was a time I ran plugs until the electrodes wore thin, but this isn't a great idea for old machines.

[Greybeard]

I imagine that when scrap metal gets processed impurities get filtered out so the plugs may be OK for the metal recycling bin.
Our local municipal tip has a receptacle for used oil but as brake fluid is water soluble I don't think it should go in with mineral oil.

[berger]

not a lot! brake fluid makes paint stripping easy so if you want to repaint plastic or other items use it for that or starting garden waste fires

[Bess]

Hi,
    I use old plugs as fishing weights.

Best wishes...

[lawnmowerman]

Hi,
    I use old plugs as fishing weights.

Best wishes...

Me too - not really sufficiently aerodynamic for casting but great on the boat. There must be a few hundred on the sea bed off Folkestone 

Jim

[Worty]

Cheers Gents, I like the idea of stripping paint so I'll keep it for that.  I don't fish, so the weights idea won't be of use to me personally.

Spring is coming fellas.......

[RDfella]

Can't seem to get rid of anything these days. We're supposed to be a recycling / environmentally-conscious nation, but all the obstacles put in one's way these days only encourages fly-tipping. They won't take this, won't take that, charge for something else - just try getting rid of asbestos or thermal board. Got a wheel to dump? Won't take it unless you get a trye company to take the tyre off, then the tyre goes to the incinerator and the rim to the scrapyard. Hedges are getting increasingly popular.....

[Worty]

You're definitely right about making recycling harder.  We are now charged for certain items at the local recycling, so stuff like that ends up in a partially empty skip .  I think I may have had an asbestos pipe once but may have forgotten to mention it when I took it to recycling and dumped it in the general waste.   Yes, I know, some people may object, but I don't want to be charged a fortune for disposing of something that I didn't acquire in the first place.   Years ago I very naughtily dumped a petrol tank in a shop's skip at the dead of night as the local dump wouldn't take it because of the 'residual petrol hazard'.

Surely the authorities should be happy we're trying to be responsible and take the stuff off our hands for free.  There must be scope for sorters at these facilities to maximise what can be recycled.  Just doesn't seem to be the will to make a proper go of it.

[lawnmowerman]

The craziest thing is plasterboard - costs almost as much to dispose of it at the tip as it does to buy it. It is mainly gypsum which is totally non toxic and among other uses is used as a soil conditioner in heavy clay soils.
The greedy b*****s that run the local household recycling facilities sell the waste plasterboard but want to make even more money. No wonder there is so much fly-tipping!

Jim

[WozzA]

I once removed several large bushes from our garden, I filled the ute & took them to the local Green recycling centre where their mulched & resold to the public by the Mtr...   
The B'stards wanted to charge me $35 for my donation ...           

[Sav]

Stupidity I encountered at the transfer station made the local paper!

We bought a new dish washer so I did the right thing and took the old one down the transfer station. Problem was after I drove in under the height barrier I was accosted by the local operative who told me I could not take my van in. My 'van' is a transporter T5 but in Kombi form with rear windows and rear seats, NOT a van.

I explained that all I had in the back was a domestic dishwasher, not a load of rubble but he would not relent.

After much arguing and dire threats if I left the dishwasher at the gate I returned home and transferred the dishwasher to the wife's tiny Audi A1 hanging out the back with the tailgate open. Not easy bearing in mind I am a pensioner.

I then returned to the transfer station with the dodgy load and drove in to meet the same operative who happily accepted  the dishwasher this time

What a joke!

The press found out and came and took photos and there was a half page story on the stupidity and why there is so much fly tipping!

[Worty]

To add to the hilarity Sav, if you'd taken it in a trailer (not a big one) they'd also have let you in.  I think they have max dimensions for a trailer over which it counts as commercial.  One would surely think that it would be easy enough to distinguish between domestic and commercial waste.

Having said that, when I was clearing out my late father's house, I took an old shower screen to the local tip.  As I was about to dump it in the general waste, an operative stopped me and called the supervisor over.  He told me it was a commercial item and they'd have to make a charge for it.  I told him there was no way I was going to pay and I'd take it away.  The following day, in another load containing rusty scaffolding poles!!!!!!, I very quickly dumped the whole lot in a carefully planned operation (in the right bins, I might say).

All I can say is ................. Jeeeeeezzzzz

[Bsareg]

Another use for old spark plugs.

[lawnmowerman]

To add to the hilarity Sav, if you'd taken it in a trailer (not a big one) they'd also have let you in.  I think they have max dimensions for a trailer over which it counts as commercial.  One would surely think that it would be easy enough to distinguish between domestic and commercial waste.

Having said that, when I was clearing out my late father's house, I took an old shower screen to the local tip.  As I was about to dump it in the general waste, an operative stopped me and called the supervisor over.  He told me it was a commercial item and they'd have to make a charge for it.  I told him there was no way I was going to pay and I'd take it away.  The following day, in another load containing rusty scaffolding poles!!!!!!, I very quickly dumped the whole lot in a carefully planned operation (in the right bins, I might say).

All I can say is ................. Jeeeeeezzzzz

It is about time these recycling facility bandits are called to account. They seem to make up their own rules and the only way round it is to slip them a £5 note then you can dump anything you want.
At the centre I use a measuring stick is used to determine the length of the trailer is below maximum and there are even rules about how much you can carry in the trailer. I have a friend who was only allowed to unload half the trailer, then had to leave the tip and drive round the block before he could come back in and unload the other half!
Just about every item of domestic waste could also be classed as "commercial" waste. Even if you hire a skip for your waste they are still fussy about what goes in it.
There will always be waste which is uneconomic to recycle and the privately owned recycling companies are not interested in which will end up in landfill and they seem to be turning this away so that they can boast high recycling percentages. The sad fact is that a lot of this unwanted waste ends up in fly tips on peoples' land who have to pay twice as much to get rid of it.
Wake up government - there has to be a better way.

Jim

[Greybeard]

Our local tip is pretty good. I have a small trailer that is allowed to use the tip unless it's carrying lots of rubble. In that case, I have to go onto the weighbridge before and after unloading and then pay a charge. I'm not unhappy to pay the charge as it's a lot less than hiring a skip. In the centre of the site is a charity shop. Real recycling! We often come home with stuff from there!